Sugar Cubes
by Bloodstained Comma
Summary: A series of comical L centric mini fics from fanfic50 challenge at Livejournal. Oneshot #11: Matsuda has never been a good actor... but who else would be stealing L's sugar cubes? A formal investigation is obviously in order here.
1. Introduction

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or its characters. Or anything else.**

This is what you call boredom, I tell you what. I went on **Livejournal** last night (okay, this morning, but it was close to last night since it was about 4 am (don't judge me for my lack of sleep!!)) and decided to look at writing prompt communities.

And I found **fanfic50** and it's wonderful tables. So I jacked one and claim absolutely no rights to the table, that all goes to **fanfic50** on **Livejournal**. The stories shall be L centric, all 500 words apiece -which is harder than I thought it would be when I first started…-, and will often make fun of characters that I like but L obviously doesn't (such as Matsuda. Don't hurt me. It hurts me enough to pick on him from L's point of view, even).

Mostly comical, but also other types of fics, and many of the minifics will be based around sugar cubes (which are awesome), hence the title of the whole collection.

And it's going to take place between the span of time in which the permanent headquarters was first built and L's death.

The subjects, in the order I'll be writing them in, are Temptation, Addiction, Greed, Faith, Delusional, Innocence, Stained, Procrastinate, Dirty, Lie, Forgive, Lose, Want, Bury, Choke, Burn, Change, Regret, Slip, Smirk, Fragile, Secret, Past, Fantasy, Enough, Dream, Waste, Hope, Note, Hug, Passion, Hold, Right, Wrong, Strong, Wind, Paranoid, Movement, Song, Touch, Shake, Psychic, Spirit, Magick, God, Ghost, Belong, Tear(s), Drown, and Writer's Choice which I'm still deciding on.

It seemed like fun at the time, so I'll probably just write on this when I get bored or lack inspiration for my other stories. I'll probably procrastinate this one a lot.


	2. Dare

**Prompt #1**: Temptation  
**Title**: Dare

It was torture. There was no other way to describe such a horrible, horrible thing. It was just within reach, but all he could do was stare longingly and hope that it would come to him by some miracle. That obviously wasn't _ever_ going to happen. And if it did, he wasn't sure he would be too inclined to do anything about it. It might even be a little frightening, overwhelming.

After all, cake wasn't _supposed_ to move on its own.

It had been on only a dare that L had agreed to do this. The Kira case was growing dull lately, and on break, Light had bet him that he couldn't go for a thirty minute break without eating a bite of the cake on the coffee table in front of him. So L stared. And waited. It seemed to be the longest thirty minutes of his life. Just because of this cruel trick that Light was playing on him, the chance that Light was Kira went up by a percent with every moment that passed by. It was complete and utter _torture_. It was _strawberry cheesecake_. Only someone as evil as Kira would do something this cruel to _anyone_.

There was no other explanation for it.

"Light-kun," L said.

Light looked over at L from _his_ slice of cake that he was _allowed to eat_. L was inclined to kick the smug look off of his face, but thought better of it and tried to remain calm.

"Hmm?"

"The percentage you are Kira is now at ninety-nine percent."

"Why? Because you accepted a dare?"

"No. Light-kun forced me to accept the dare before I knew any of its details, claiming that it would make things more interesting. So far, it has not."

"That's funny," Light said. "I thought it did."

"One hundred. I will be calling Watari shortly to have arrangements made to have Light-kun arrested."

Light slowly raised an eyebrow. "If the cake's that important, then just eat it."

"It's too late to bribe me, Light-kun. You should know this. And if you do not, then the percentage that you are Kira goes up again."

Light sighed, realizing there was no point in reasoning with L when he was in this state. There was no doubt that when the thirty minutes was up, L would eat around five slices of cake and be in a good – or, at least, somewhat improved mood. The tediousness of the Kira case lately was absolutely painstaking to handle. Of course, there were some ways to entertain one's self. There was the television. There were occasionally good shows on. Not often, but occasionally. There was always the option of confusing Matsuda with confusing data, but that was beginning to grow old.

However, depriving cake addicts of their addiction would probably never loose its appeal, even if it did make his chances of ever seeing the light of day again rather slim. The temptation not to, however, was much too hard to resist.


	3. Sugar Cubes

**Prompt #2**: Addiction  
**Title**: Sugar Cubes

Sugar cubes were good. They were a lot like edible Legos that fell over more often than actual Legos. Much better than regular, crystal sugar, obviously. What fun was that? You could eat it, but then there was always the problem of the inside of your mouth feeling like sandpaper for the rest of the day. No, sugar cubes were the greatest thing since sliced bread. That was obvious to anyone with a brain. L figured that would explain why Matsuda didn't seem to understand.

"But isn't it easier to find the other kind of sugar?"

"Indeed it is, Matsuda-san," L said absently, stacking sugar cubes on the table in front of him. "However, sugar cubes are simply more efficient."

"How?" he asked curiously. Like a puppy with its head tilted to the side, L couldn't help but think.

"They just are, Matsuda-san. I'm afraid there is no simpler explanation than that."

"That's not a good explanation."

L's sugar cube tower fell at Matsuda's comment. L glared at him viciously. Matsuda obviously got the picture, as he got up from his seat quickly and hurried over to where Yagami and Mogi were discussing something to do with the case. Good. Now L could rebuild his sugar cube tower without having to listen to the infamous idiocies of the moronic Matsuda. That was a comforting thought in itself, he thought as he placed one sugar cube on top of the stack of three that remained, before popping another into his mouth.

As the tower began getting taller again, he heard _that_ voice next to him for a second time.

"I just don't _get_ why they're so much better than other sugar."

"Then try one. And please leave me alone."

Matsuda shrugged and took a cube from the cup in front of L. L was unaware of the chain of events he had just started. Over the next week, his sugar cubes began going mysteriously missing, until there was barely enough left to sweeten a single cup of coffee. It wasn't until three days later that he figured out why, when he spotted Matsuda and saw that he had a peculiar tick in his left cheek. That was probably a very bad thing.

"Matsuda-san?"

"What?! I didn't take them!"

"I wasn't accusing you of taking anything, but–"

"What?!"

"Do you know who has been taking my sugar cubes?"

Matsuda blinked a few times. Or, more than a few. He blinked about a hundred times in the span of a few seconds. It was obvious who the culprit was, but L wasn't going to let Matsuda know this bit of information yet. Matsuda looked around for someone to blame, and his eyes landed behind L.

"It was Light-kun."

L looked back at Light, then at Matsuda, then at the former again. L sighed and decided to leave it at that.

"See what you did?" Light said.

"Hmm?"

"Now there're two sugar junkies here."

Only one word applied to this horrible situation:

"Oops."


	4. Immature

**Prompt #3**: Greed  
**Title**: Immature

"Can I have a–"

"No, Matsuda-san."

"Why not?"

"Because I am not here to fuel your addiction."

Matsuda had been begging for a sugar cube for the past three days. Aiber had been reduced, quite reluctantly, to a sugar cube guard when L was away from the bowl, which wasn't very often. As it turned out, Matsuda could be very sneaky when he wanted something. He had been consuming the squares like a Shinigami eats apples (according to Kira, anyway), and L wasn't gong to have that happening. However, contrary to the belief of the team, this was not because L cared about the well being of Matsuda or whether or not he died of a heart attack.

No. It was because he was greedy. Not that he would ever admit it aloud, of course.

He didn't like sharing his cake. Or his sugar cubes. Coffee was fine, but they had to buy their own sweetener. L specifically asked Watari for the regular amount of sugar cubes and coffee creamer that he tended to use in a typical week, as Watari went out to stock up on food for the investigation team once a week. That was one of _his_ orders. If the investigation team wanted anything, they could place it in _their_ orders. It wasn't his problem that Matsuda wasn't smart enough to realize this. Not his problem at _all_.

He _had_ told the task force that he was immature in the beginning, hadn't he? He was a sore loser. And he didn't like sharing his things. Be it clothes or toothbrushes or his laptop or _sugar cubes_, he didn't like letting other people near his things. It was simply unacceptable.

"Come _on_, Ryuzaki-san, please? Just _one_!"

"No."

"Half of one?"

"Even if that were possible, Matsuda-san, the answer would still be no."

"That's just mean!"

"Yes it is. Now please get back to work. I do not appreciate being bothered when I am–"

"What, eating sugar cubes?!"

"No, when I am working, Matsuda-san. So please go find someone else to bother for now."

Matsuda glared at L. This was a very rare occurrence, as Matsuda never seemed to glare at anyone with his peppy and optimistic nature. He must have been suffering some pretty bad withdrawal. That was too bad.

"Greedy bastard…" L heard Matsuda mumble as he stood up and walked over to another computer pointedly to sit down.

And again, there was peace within the world. Until a rather stealthy hand stole another sugar cube from him. L looked to Matsuda, accusingly. Matsuda looked completely innocent. _Looked_ being the key word, there.

"Matsuda-san?"

"What?"

"Did you take one of my sugar cubes?"

"No!"

L swiveled his chair around to look behind him. He glared at the person who should have been a fugitive standing behind him.

"I just wanted to see why they're so great…" Light said.

L glared in response. He _didn't like sharing_. This was too annoying for him. He turned his chair, plotting revenge.


	5. You Want a Revolution?

_One of the angstier chapters. There will be a few, but most of them are well humored. I basically go for writing the first thing that comes to mind with these, and I came to this one this time._

* * *

Prompt #4: Faith  
**Title**: You Want a Revolution?  
_(Inspired by the Beatles song I was listening to at the time. Called "Revolution," nonetheless.)_

It was the middle of the night. L had found himself staring out the window in his and Light's room for the millionth night in a row. It probably wasn't a million, but it damn well felt like it lately. It was easy to understand Kira's personality, as Kira was indeed so much like himself. This new Kira he was faced with was different, most likely power-hungry rather than childlike, however, making him quite a bit harder to understand. Yes, he did believe it to be a new Kira, despite the rest of the team thinking it was still the same.

More than anything, L found it hard to understand how so many people had faith in Kira's actions, looked at him as nothing less than a God. It was the same thing he had wondered since Kira started growing in popularity and gaining support like some pop icon. People saw it as a revolution, as exactly what their God Kira wanted them to see it as. Kira was _no_ God – he was a criminal who needed to be stopped and punished justly. No one understood but a select few. Even the police had pulled their support of the investigation into Kira, albeit more out of fear than out of support. However, in a case like this, one had to be willing to risk their life. It was impossible to solve otherwise.

He didn't blame the masses themselves for the popularization of Kira. It was all in the media. This may as well have been a revolution, but not so much like the American Revolution, celebrated to this day. It was much more like the Holocaust. Kira was rooting out those he saw unfit to live in his world, creating his very own "perfect" race. With the way Kira was going about it, however, he was going to be the only bastard left by the end of the ordeal.

The media always offered different sorts of propaganda durring revolutions. There were news channels that were anti-Kira, but then there was that tub of lard Demegawa at Sakura TV, supporting Kira just for the sake of ratings. Those were the types that made fighting Kira seem more hopeless. There weren't many, but L was sure that if Kira wasn't caught soon then, as time went by, more television stations would sell out to the Kira madness in an attempt to gain ground in the race for ratings. When revolutions were allowed to go on for long enough, such things always happened. The circumstances would be no different for Kira. All Kira was, was a power hungry fascist who probably believed himself to be God or something like it by this point in the game. An uncomforting thought, it was, but he could control the masses.

If the media would stop the bullshit, there might be hope for the world.

L, however, had little faith that this was going to happen.

In revolutions, such things never happened, and this _was_ a revolution.


	6. Subconscious Psychology

_Holy freaking crap. I'm so sorry for not updating in so long._

_School just started back up and the school practically skipped me up a year, so I'm **loaded **down with homework, and I no longer have a free period to finish it in. Please do not kill the poor sixteen year old senior. -cowers- This is all I had the time to do since I still have homework I need to do, but **I WILL be updating The King's Note and Mellow Out SOOON**, I promise!_

_I hope everyone else has had a better start of term than I have, and much less homework. -falls over sideways from weight of textbooks in backpack- __I really, really do._

**

* * *

Prompt #5**: Delusional  
**Title**: Subconscious Psychology

"Could you hand me my cake, Kira-kun?"

L grinned to himself a little as Light absently picked up the plate of cake on the table next to him, started to hand it to L, then stopped. He looked up from his laptop and gave L a questioning look. L kept his expression completely innocent. This should be interesting.

"What?"

"I asked you to hand me my cake. You picked it up. Is there a reason you are keeping it from me, Light-kun?"

"Yes. Repeat exactly what you said when you asked me."

L blinked. "Could you hand me my cake?"

"You said something else."

"I wasn't aware I had, Light-kun."

Light looked at L suspiciously for a moment longer, clearly suspecting him of some sort of trickery, that he was using _some_ sort of cake-related scheme to prove that Light was Kira in some strange way. Even so, Light gave in with a nonchalant shrug and handed L the plate he had been holding in mid-air, going back to his computer.

"Thank you, Kira-kun."

"Your wel– what?!"

L looked at Light expressionlessly again. "What is it, Light-kun?"

"I heard what you called me."

"Light-kun?"

"Kira-kun. I know what you're doing. You're trying to get me to respond to the name subconsciously, which is a childish effort. If someone is focused enough on something, it doesn't matter what you call them, as long as it is clear you are addressing them, they will respond. We had the same psychology classes at Toudai."

"Indeed we did, Light-kun. I apologize for my indiscretion."

Light gave L another suspicious look (which L simply countered with his trademark wide-eyed emotionless _I'm-just-a-sweet-innocent-private-detective_ look) before returning to his computer yet again. L, realizing he didn't have a fork to eat his cake with, immediately began hatching another plan. He looked around at the table to see a fork next to Light. This could also be interesting.

"Could you please hand me my fork, Misa-san?"

He had to bite his tongue as Light picked up the fork absently. Just as with the plate, his arm stopped midair, and he gave L an absolutely livid look. He dropped the fork on the table.

"That's completely immature."

"I was merely testing Light-kun's theory for accuracy," L said innocently. "Apparently, the theory does apply to this situation. Testing to see if you are Kira by causing you to respond to the name while you are completely focused on something else will not do me any good, as you will respond to any name by which I address you."

"Exactly. So stop it."

Light handed L the fork. L set it on the table and instead pressed his thumb to his lips, thinking.

"There could be another, much more interesting explanation, however."

Light gave L a skeptical look. L could easily tell that Light knew L was up to something, but L didn't care.

"Perhaps Light-kun is Kira _and_ Misa-san."

L looked stoically innocent. Light only glared.

"Ryuzaki…."

"Yes, Light-kun?"

"You're delusional."


	7. Why Does the Coffee Taste Like Salt?

_Three kind comments on my last chapter. -mucho smiles!- Thanks bunches._

_Umm. Disclaimer: More picking on Matsuda in this one. I love the guy, but picking on him is just too hard to resist._

_No homework tonight, so I'm hoping to finish Chapter 31 of **The King's Note**. I do have some major studying to do since I have like three tests, but I'm normally fine without studying. I only do good when I cram five minutes before tests. The only thing I study is music class stuff, and that's because I actually hold interest in it since I'm FINALLY getting to learn to read music. YAY!_

_Anywhozles. Onto the story._

_**Summary**: What looks like sugar and has the same texture, but isn't? Why, salt, of course!  
**Disclaimer**: Me no own._

* * *

**Prompt #6**: Innocence  
**Title**: Why Does the Coffee Taste Like Salt?

L was growing tired of Matsuda taking his sugar cubes. Of course, he had grown tired of it the first time it happened, but he had just gotten around to taking an initiative against Matsuda that played directly on Matsuda's gullible innocence and trust of everyone. The plan was full proof – L knew it was. The answer was something that looked and felt like sugar cubes, but _wasn't_: salt. It was perfect. These cubes had to be specially made, but if it meant keeping Matsuda's hand out of the sugar cube bowl, then whatever money it had cost was worth it. As Matsuda was walking behind L's chair with an impossibly tall stack of documents, L took his initiative.

"Matsuda-san?"

Matsuda jumped, having not expected this, and clumsily allowed the papers to topple out of his arms. He looked down at the mess, debating over whether to pick the papers up before talking to L. He apparently decided to talk to L first; he stepped over the papers. L slid his sugar cube bowl instinctively out of Matsuda's reach before speaking. Matsuda seemed disappointed at this.

"Matsuda-san, I have taken the liberty of putting in an order of sugar cubes for you, which were delivered today by Watari. They are sitting next to your computer. Do not take this as an act of kindness, I simply did this so you would stop taking mine."

"Really??" Matsuda said, his eyes lighting up. Despite L's request, he had taken it as an act of kindness. L rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Ryuzaki-san!"

Matsuda walked back to his papers and picked them up. He walked off with the papers quickly, looking quite happy. L was also quite happy. It would be especially funny if Matsuda decided to use them in coffee before testing them. L was knocked out of his amusement at the sound of someone next to him clearing their throat. L looked to his right.

"Yes, Light-kun?"

"Ryuzaki," he said slowly, "you're not the nicest person in the world."

L tilted his head slightly. "What does Light-kun mean?"

"I mean, it's not… _good-natured_ to trick someone that naive."

"What makes Light-kun think that I am tricking anyone?"

Light only rolled his eyes.

After Matsuda delivered those papers to wherever they were supposed to go, he sat down by his computer with a cup of coffee. He dumped a handful of the white, sugary-looking cubes into it, as well as a bit of creamer, and then took a sip. L refrained from laughing when he started choking on the small sip of coffee, and managed to spit some of it out. He shook his head, looking at his coffee for a moment. He looked around the room for something to blame on this horrible event, and his eyes landed on L.

"Ryuzaki-san… why does the coffee taste like salt…?"

L's face was a mask of innocence.

"I do not know, Matsuda-san."

_Ha! Justice._ L thought, still looking as disinterested as he could.


	8. Vandalism

_It's as I said in my opening, I procrastinate this one a lot. I do enjoy working on it, but only occasionally. It's fun and helps take my mind off of other things, so I might do a few of these tonight. Just finished this one pretty quickly, the idea was pretty much off the top of my head._

_**Summary**: When all other methods of getting rid of a bothersome ex-police officer fail, attempt to have him arrested for spilling coffee on your shirt.  
**Disclaimer**: I only own the cup of coffee Matsuda spilled and L's seldom-heard-yet-much-feared evil laugh._

* * *

**Prompt #7: **Stained  
**Title**: Vandalism

"Matsuda, you idiot…"

L had meant to grumble it under his breath, but he ended up yelling it due to the fact that the coffee had been rather hot and, in turn, painful. This Matsuda, who had dropped it, to slink away in fear, apologizing profusely on his way back to the coffeemaker. L rolled his eyes and glared down at his shirt. It was the last one he had left and now it would be stained. _That_ had to be some sort of crime punishable by law, didn't it? But _how_ was the question. There should have been some law that covered this. That coffee _had_ been hot. Attempted murder by burning? That was ridiculous. But that was when he thought of it.

"Vandalism."

He laughed. Matsuda had indeed vandalized his shirt with coffee. Absolutely perfect. It would give him an excuse to get Matsuda off of the team. The accusation was a bit forced, but that shouldn't matter. It seemed a perfectly viable reason… maybe not _perfectly_ viable, but close enough.

Light looked over cautiously. The laugh had seemed a little overly evil for L. L looked at Light, as expressionless as ever, making Light question whether the laugh had been from L. Light raised an eyebrow at the eccentric man, who gave his genuine stoic stare back in return.

"Is there a problem, Light-kun?"

"What are you talking to yourself about vandalism for?"

"It is nothing pertaining to the Kira investigation, Light-kun, there is no need to wonder about it."

Unsure that he even _wanted_ to know, Light turned back to his computer and continued looking through suspect lists and evidence. He was distinctly unfocused now, however – L had said the word "vandalism" shortly after Matsuda had spilled the cup of coffee he was delivering on L. It didn't make much sense to Light, but there was no doubt that it made sense in the twisted mind of the insomniac sitting next to him.

"I'm really, really, _really_ sorry, L – sorry! I mean Ryuzaki!" L looked over at Matsuda, who was now holding a coffee cup with two hands to ensure he didn't drop it. "It won't happen again."

"I would think not," said L stoically, taking the coffee from Matsuda, "for two reasons. Firstly, because this is the only shirt. Secondly, because I may have you arrested for vandalism."

"Wh – what?? B-but It was just coffee…" said Matsuda sheepishly. "And it's a white shirt, you could bleach it out…"

Matsuda did make a fair point, but L's intention wasn't really to get the stain out of the shirt; it was to get Matsuda away for good. Vandalism did seem to be a bit of a bogus charge (even though he could _probably_ talk the police into agreeing). However, compromises could be made.

"Then please go to the store and buy some."

A few minutes of peace and quiet would suffice until he could think of a better way to get rid of the defective ex-police officer.


	9. Sleepy Nuissances

_I've had this one done for a while -- sorry I didn't post it sooner. I forgot all about it._

_**Mini-sum:** Procrastinating anything durring an investigation annoys L, hence why he'd like to use the chain linking him to his biggest annoyance to strangle said annoyance at times.  
**Disclaimer:** If I owned Death Note, I would not be posting this here. This shit would be in books sold at bookstores. Hence, me no own Death Note. I'm just an avid fan and promoter. Please no sue the Comma._

* * *

**Prompt #8: **Procrastinate  
**Title**: Sleepy Nuissances

L had an issue. It was a nagging, annoying, brown haired issue attached by a chain to his wrist that he couldn't walk away from if he tried to. He closed his eyes in annoyance as he popped a small white cube into his mouth to supply for his regular need for sugar, wondering if anyone would hear it if he kicked the annoyance. It was midnight, so the only investigators awake were L and… well, the nuisance that was plaguing him. Right now, that nuisance was indeed nagging him. Why? Because he was _tired_.

"We've been awake for three days _straight_," said Light through gritted teeth.

"Please don't type on the keyboard so hard, Light-kun, it is breakable."

"Are you listening?"

"I am, Light-kun," said L with a sigh. "And 'we' haven't been awake for three days straight. Light-kun generally bothers me for an hour about going to sleep and then falls asleep on the desk in front of him."

"You can't tell me _you_ don't ever sleep."

"Sleeping is procrastinating," L said, and then put another cube of sugar in his mouth. "And I do not procrastinate when I am working a case. It would take twice as long to solve if I did."

It wasn't really a lie. L rarely ever slept while working, and it was accidentally when he did. He never slept for more than thirty minutes at a time, and generally only did so once every five days, as he knew it was indeed a scientific fact that more than five days without sleep would cause a person to go mad. L had trained himself to only need thirty minutes of sleep every five days to hold onto his sanity, and he wasn't about to jeopardize that because the poor pitiful Kira-suspect was _tired_.

"I've seen you sleep in that chair."

L nodded slowly. "I am on a very strict sleeping schedule. I sleep only as much as a human needs to in order to stay sane and alive. And I do not understand why that's funny," he added when Light gave a laugh.

"I think you lost the right to claim sanity before you even began working on the Kira case."

"I believe I am perfectly sane, Light-kun. And regardless, I get much more work done when I am awake than I do when I am asleep. I will be remaining awake, thank you. You may sleep at the desk if you like."

"Look, just unlock my handcuff and turn on the monitors for our room. I don't think Misa will start killing people if you do, she won't even know the monitors are off."

"I cannot do that, Light-kun. It was you who agreed to work with me 24/7, so that is completely out of the question."

Light rolled his eyes and laid his head on the desk. L didn't understand what was so appealing about sleep, anyway. Sleep, procrastination – it was nothing but laziness, the greatest form of evil in existence.


	10. Foundation Powder

_Got boredish. So, here's another sugar cube for all of you._

_**Disclaimer**: Me no owns.  
**Warning**: Light Yagami=Light Im-a-gay... who-uses-makeup. Yepyep.  
**Summary**: L's Wednesday shirt is missing, and we are given further proof that Light may not be as straight as Misa would like him to be_

* * *

**Prompt #9**: Dirty  
**Title**: Foundation Powder

With a slight grimace at the digital clock in the corner of his laptop's screen, L shut the computer and pulled on the chain connected to his wrist to figure out where was leading this morning. The answering, annoyed tug came from the bathroom. That meant L had another hour to do research while Yagami Light attached to him attempted to fix his hair and do whatever other morning rituals he practiced. L generally chose not to enter the bathroom while Light was in it, and had therefore had the bathroom made just within the reach of the chain and the rest of L's side of this bedroom.

L ambled over to his dresser and pulled out a random array of clothes from it to be tossed onto his bed – until he reached his shirts. He knew he had exactly seven white shirts, each of the tags marked with one day of the week. As it was Wednesday, all of them should have been there and clean, but only six were present.

L looked over at the bathroom door. With as spotlessly clean as the bedroom was, one glance would have told L that it was not there. That meant it had to be in the land of doom – at least it was the land of doom when Yagami Light was inside.

Nothing could be done. L headed over to the bathroom and knocked on the frame of the partially open door. His reply was a slightly agitated, "_What_?"

"My Wednesday shirt is missing."

L heard an annoyed sigh, and a moment later, an arm reached out of the door and dropped a white shirt on the floor. "That's the only one that's in here."

L picked up the shirt, now slightly annoyed, and held it up. His annoyance grew to near anger upon seeing the front of the shirt. He knocked on the doorframe again. "What now?"

L pushed the door open and held up the shirt. "Light-kun, why is my shirt dirty? It should be clean, yesterday was a washing day, but there appear to be tan stains on it."

There was a momentary flicker of something like fear in Light's eyes. "Isn't that the shirt Matsuda spilled coffee on last week?" He asked this almost hopefully. Something was strange here….

"No. That was Thursday. And this looks more like –" L looked up from the shirt at the bathroom counter and pointed. "Didn't you say that was Misa's?" Light looked at the container of foundation powder, then pushed it out of sight and shut the door quickly, as far as it would shut with the chain still in it.

L looked at the shirt again. It couldn't be helped. To avoid anymore awkward, make-up related questions, L would just have to wear a different shirt and not speak to Light for the rest of the day. That didn't answer why his shirt had been used as a rag, but some mysteries were best left unsolved, L thought.


	11. The Case of the Missing Sugar Cubes

_So yeah. I was reading over these and quietly giggling to myself over the randomness, and decided to do another after such a long break._

_And for once, I gave Matsuda a bit of glory. Because, hey, the poor guy deserves it occasionally._

_**Disclaimer**: I don't own Death Note or L's sugar cubes, nor did I steal them. Really. Honest. I mean it! Dx  
**Summary**: The sugar cubes are gone, (-legasp-), and if it wasn't Matsuda, then who could it have possibly been?  
_

* * *

**Prompt #10: **Lie  
**Title**: The Mysterious Case of the Missing Sugar Cubes

"Matsuda-san, how many times do I have to ask you not to steal my sugar cubes?"

It was with confused, hurt-puppy eyes that Matsuda looked at L, who glared in response at this outright lie of an expression. "B-but Ryuzaki, I've been buying my own!" Matsuda said defensively. "I've been getting them myself ever since Watari accidentally picked up the salt-flavored sugar cubes." L covered a near laugh with a cough, and Light, who had been dragged by the chain attaching the two together, rolled his eyes.

"You obviously ran out of your own and took mine," L said. "Don't bother lying. If I have to, I will prove that you took them." He was the world's greatest detective, after all. If the case of the missing sugar cubes stumped him, how would he ever solve the Kira case?

"I don't know how you could when I didn't take them," Matsuda said with a sigh, turning back to his computer. L stood still for a moment, biting his thumbnail. Truly, Matsuda was showing no signs of excessive sugar intake, and he wasn't all that great at lying to begin with. Could it have possibly been someone else? There wasn't anyone else addicted to the things. Even L wouldn't call himself _addicted_, he could stop any time he wanted to.

But if Matsuda hadn't taken them, then who had? The others would occasionally put in an order, but no one else had this week except for L. And now, even the bowl he normally used was missing. It wasn't making any logical sense; the only suspect was Matsuda, and given that he was worse at lying than he was at reasoning, the thought that he was lying right now was utterly impossible.

"All right. I'll believe you. Have you seen anyone else using any that didn't put an order in?"

Matsuda shrugged. "Who put orders in?" he asked.

"I did."

"Oh." Matsuda turned around. "I thought I saw another bowl by the coffee maker earlier, could that have been yours? I think Aizawa was using them."

L's eyes narrowed—then he had a new suspect. He moved across the room, once again dragging Light behind him like a disobedient dog on a short leash, to Aizawa to begin his next interrogation.

At his own computer, once L began accusing Aizawa—who he apparently assumed was quite a bit better at lying—of stealing the sugar cubes, Matsuda breathed a quiet sigh of relief. It was quite rarely that Matsuda left to buy his own sugar cubes—usually once a week, sometimes every other. It had been an _every-other_ this time, and it was times like these that required more sugar cubes; he never knew when it would happen, so he never bought extra, but he _needed_ them. Stealing was necessary. This meant lying was also necessary, something Matsuda hadn't ever done well with.

Apparently the acting classes, though they were only once a week—sometimes every other—were paying off well.


End file.
